Conventional easels used by artists normally have a pair of rigid forward legs and one or more pivoted legs extending rearwardly therefrom, the forward legs having at least one horizontal supporting member thereon upon which the lower edge of a canvas or artist's board is supported. Examples of easels of this type are taught by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,202,471; 2,953,341; 2,565,078 and 2,064,232. Easels of this type are highly successful for studio or semi-permanent locations but for the purposes of transporting or storing are awkward and consume a considerable amount of space both in relocation and in storage. As a result, attempts have been made to provide collapsible type easels. Obviously, the purpose of these collapsible easels is to render same as compact as possible when in a collapsed condition and, preferably, have no loose members to be accounted for when the easel is to be used or while being transported. Examples of collapsible easels are taught by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,057,215; 3,244,450; 3,095,666; 3,095,665 and 2,549,306.
The principal problem associated with a collapsible easel is compactness, completeness as to essential features required by the artist, and size; that is, the easel must have size for the purposes intended.